In a surprising move, Uber and Waymo have settled their lawsuit. Alphabet’s self-driving car division filed a lawsuit against Uber last year, alleging that former Waymo engineers stole company trade secrets and intellectual property to start Otto, which was quickly snatched up by Uber. The trial had commenced earlier this week and there were four days of arguments in a San Francisco federal court, with a fifth scheduled to go on today. Instead, Uber has agreed to provide Waymo with 0.34 percent of its stock. The share Waymo acquired is worth at least $240 million, with Uber's valuation sitting at $72 billion. Alphabet was previously seeking up to $2.6 billion in damages. Waymo said that the settlement will protect its own intellectual property now and into the future. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi (who was not CEO during the time frame covered by the lawsuit) said that Alphabet is an important partner and investor in the company and said the Otto acquisition could have been handled better. — NYT

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